Wineor

Leaving Windows Behind? Bring your apps with you!

Dan Kegel / Cebit 2009

Pay attention, there will be a quiz at the end!

Hyperlinked presentation online at www.kegel.com/cebit

The opinions expressed in this talk are my own, not my employer's.

For most people, since about 1995, computer = Windows

And Linux is thought of as geeky and hard to use, if at all

So why does HP promote Linux on the Mini Mi?

And why do 30% of Dell Minis run Linux?

Because Linux is now easy to use,thanks to projects like Ubuntu

InfoWorld (Mar '09) says

Desktop Linux: Ready for the mainstream

“I was struck by how XP-like Ubuntu 8.10 is. And that's a good thing. It took me very little time to find where standard functions are, given the similarities. In fact, it's a much

easier transition [than Vista]”.

And OpenOffice has become a very usable free office suite

PC World says (Mar 2009)

4 Ways to Save Money on Software

“OpenOffice can easily take the place of Microsoft Office”

And Windows-only websites are now rarerthanks to great free browsers like Firefox

Moreover, Windows has issues.Windows Vista doesn't fit on most netbooks

And Windows costs $20-$50,which hurts a lot on laptops that sell for $250

And Microsoft limits Windows netbooks to

1GB RAM, 1GHz CPU, 16 GB Flash

10.2” Screen, no DirectX 10

to protect sales of more expensive computers

The restrictions are not subtle

Now that HP and Dell have chosen Linux, should you try it?

Linux comes with thousands of appsand free updates

You're free to install Linuxwherever and whenever you like

You're even encouraged to share Linux with your friends

Any programmer in the world can fix or improve Linux

Linux upgrades never forced New versions of Ubuntu always free

Linux has ~1% as many viruses(source: netlux.org)

Munich, Niedersachsen, France, Spain,China, Russia, and Brazil are using desktop Linux

Reasons: flexibility, independence, cost

OK, I'm convinced, I should try Linux.But there's just one more thing:

I need this one app, can I take it with me?

You could use VMWare and Windows,but then you still have to deal with Windows

licensing and upgrades

If Linux is a free clone of Unix,can't it be a free clone of Windows, too?

Yes! With Wine, Linux now runs many apps. Just add it in "Add/Remove Applications"

But isn't Wine complicated to use?

No! To install a Windows app, just double-click its installer

The app then shows up in the menu

And its files show up in wine's C: directory

Here's what Firefox's files look like

Wine is a work in progress

WineHQ.org is where to go for support

Wine's App Database is your friendCheck here before trying a new app

The appdb says Powerpoint 2007 needs a configuration tweak and wine-1.1.14 or later

Newer versions of Wine can be downloaded

from winehq.org

Tweaks are done with WinecfgSix mouse clicks and one word later,

Powerpoint is happy

Missing libraries or fonts can be installed with Winetricks

Wine is free?How can that work?

What's Wine's business model?Is it made by Heinzelmaenner?

A few dozen large customers and many volunteers are enough to sustain Wine

The Wine team is dozens of volunteersplus ~10 paid programmers

1998: Corel – WordPerfect2000: Borland – Kylix2001: Lindows – Office 20002003: Disney – Photoshop 72004: Gupta – Team Developer2005: Google – Summer of Code2006: Google – Picasa2008: Google – Photoshop CS2/CS3

Every time a large user sponsors bug fixes, Wine grows stronger. Thanks!

Selected user-sponsored improvements

So who should try Wine?

Don't try Wine yet if you need:

Win64 (2009Q4?)Direct3D 10 (2009Q4?)

USB dongles (patch available)WPF / XAML (not started)

Ifyou need dozensdozens of apps to work perfectly

oryou don't want to help track down problems

then

Wine probably isn't ready for you

Ifyou need a fewa few apps to work perfectly

andyou are willing to help track down problems

then

Wine might be ready for you

But first, try to switch from Windows apps

to open source or Web apps

because direct support is always better

What if something goes wrong?

Free support options(forums, chat, FAQ, doc, wiki, bug tracker):

Wine: www.winehq.org/help

Ubuntu Linux: help.ubuntu.com

Or any Linux user group

Commercial paid support options:

Wine: codeweavers.com/support orcodeweavers.com/services

Ubuntu Linux: ubuntu.com/support orcanonical.com/services

Or any Linux support vendor

Case studies

Kindl & partneři

Advokátní kancelář

Chomutov,Czech Republic

Computers: 10

Native Apps: Firefox, OpenOffice

Wine apps: ASPI (Czech legal software)

Mobile County District Attorney

Mobile, Alabama

Computers: 200 (MacOSX)

Wine apps: IE6, media players

Uses commercially supported Wine

Engaged Codeweavers to improve codec support

Xavier School

Manila, Philippines

Computers: 600

Native Apps: Firefox, OpenOffice, Notes

Wine apps: Winplot + custom VB6 apps

City of Munich

Germany

Computers: Windows(12800), Linux(1200)

Apps: Firefox (all), OpenOffice (8000)

Wine: GeoInfo, WS_FTP, a legal app (250)

“Deploying Linux is more about managing change than about technology”

But what about quality?Is Wine developed with care?

True, Wine is developing rapidly

but each change passes rigorous tests

and bugs are tracked and fixed steadily

Why is it called Wine?

Wine Is Not an Emulator

-- it's a catalyst

Q U I Z

If it costs 10 million EUR to fix all Wine bugs,and EU has fined Microsoft 1.7 billion EUR, Q. Can you think of a cost-effective way for the EU to use some of that money to stimulate competition in the operating system market?

Q. How much would each of CeBIT's half-million visitors have to contribute to fix all known Wine bugs?

Questions?Slides/video online at kegel.com/cebit

Text copyright 2009, Dan KegelPlease copy - see Attribution-ShareAlike license

If your group would like a Wine presentation, please contact meThe opinions expressed in this talk are my own, not those of my employer